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Friday, September 12th, 2025
the Week of Proper 18 / Ordinary 23
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Read the Bible

Complete Jewish Bible

Judges 14:20

and his wife was given to the companion who had been best man at the wedding.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Samson;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Marriage;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Samson;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Levi;   Marriage;   Philistines;   Samson;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Marriage;   Samson;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
and his wife was given to one of the men who had accompanied him.
Hebrew Names Version
But Shimshon's wife was [given] to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.
King James Version
But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.
Lexham English Bible
And Samson's wife was given to his companion who was his best man.
English Standard Version
And Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.
New Century Version
And Samson's wife was given to his best man.
New English Translation
Samson's bride was then given to his best man.
Amplified Bible
But Samson's wife was given to his companion who had been his friend.
New American Standard Bible
But Samson's wife was given to his companion who had been his friend.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Then Samsons wife was giuen to his companion, whom he had vsed as his friend.
Legacy Standard Bible
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
Contemporary English Version
The father of the bride had Samson's wife marry one of the thirty young men that had been at Samson's party.
Darby Translation
And Samson's wife was [given] to his companion, whom he had made his friend.
Easy-to-Read Version
So Samson's wife was given to his best man.
George Lamsa Translation
And Samsons wife, whom he loved, was given to one of his groomsmen.
Good News Translation
and his wife was given to the man that had been his best man at the wedding.
Literal Translation
And Samson's wife became his companion's, who had been his friend.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
As for Samsons wife, she was geuen vnto one of his companyons, which belonged vnto him.
American Standard Version
But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.
Bible in Basic English
But Samson's wife was given to the friend who had been his best man.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
But Samsons wyfe was geuen to one of his companions that he had taken vnto him.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had had for his friend.
King James Version (1611)
But Samsons wife was giuen to his companion, whom hee had vsed as his friend.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the wife of Sampson was given to one of his friends, with whom he was on terms of friendship.
English Revised Version
But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.
Berean Standard Bible
and his wife was given to one of the men who had accompanied him.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Forsothe his wijf took an hosebonde, oon of the frendis and keperis `of hir.
Young's Literal Translation
and Samson's wife becometh his companion's, who [is] his friend.
Update Bible Version
But Samson's wife was [given] to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.
Webster's Bible Translation
But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.
World English Bible
But Samson's wife was [given] to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.
New King James Version
And Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.
New Living Translation
So his wife was given in marriage to the man who had been Samson's best man at the wedding.
New Life Bible
Samson's wife was given to his friend who had been his best man at his wedding.
New Revised Standard
And Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And the wife of Samson was given unto his companion who had served him as his friend.
Douay-Rheims Bible
But his wife took one of his friends and bridal companions for her husband.
Revised Standard Version
And Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
But Samson's wife was given to his companion who had been his friend.

Contextual Overview

10 His father went down to the woman, and there Shimshon gave a banquet — this is what the young men used to do. 11 When the P'lishtim saw him, they provided thirty companions to be with him. 12 Shimshon said to them, "Let me present you with a riddle. If you can solve it within the seven days of the banquet and tell me the solution, I will give you thirty linen shirts and thirty changes of good clothes. 13 But if you can't solve it, you give me thirty linen shirts and thirty changes of good clothes." They answered, "Tell us the riddle, we want to hear it." 14 So he said to them, "Out of the eater came food; out of the strong came sweetness." Three days passed, and they couldn't solve the riddle. 15 On the seventh day, they said to Shimshon's wife, "Coax your husband into telling us the solution to the riddle. Otherwise we'll burn down your father's house and you with it. You two called us here to turn us into paupers, didn't you?" 16 Shimshon's wife went to him in tears and said, "You don't love me, you hate me! You told a riddle to my fellow countrymen, and you haven't told me the answer." He said to her, "Look, I haven't even told it to my father and mother! Should I tell you?" 17 But she had been crying throughout the seven days of the banquet; so on the seventh day, because she had kept pressing him, he told her the solution; and she passed it on to her people. 18 Then, before sundown on the seventh day, the men of the city said to him, "What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion?" Shimshon answered, "If you hadn't plowed with my young cow, you wouldn't have solved my riddle now." 19 Then the Spirit of Adonai came over him powerfully. He went down to Ashkelon, killed thirty of their men, took their good clothes, and gave them to the men who had "solved" the riddle. He was boiling with rage, so he went straight up to his father's house,

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

given to: Judges 15:2

his friend: Psalms 55:12, Psalms 55:13, Jeremiah 9:5, Micah 7:5, Matthew 26:49, Matthew 26:50, John 3:29, John 13:18

Reciprocal: Genesis 38:20 - his friend 1 Samuel 18:19 - Adriel 2 Samuel 13:3 - a friend

Cross-References

Genesis 9:26
Then he said, "Blessed be Adonai , the God of Shem; Kena‘an will be their servant.
Genesis 14:3
All the latter kings joined forces in the Siddim Valley, where the Dead Sea is.
Genesis 14:4
They had served K'dorla‘omer twelve years, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
Genesis 14:5
In the fourteenth year K'dorla‘omer and the kings with him came and defeated the Refa'im in ‘Asht'rot-Karnayim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Eimim in Shaveh-Kiryatayim
Genesis 14:6
and the Hori at Se‘ir, their mountain, all the way to Eil-Pa'ran by the desert.
Genesis 14:9
against K'dorla‘omer king of ‘Elam, Tid‘al king of Goyim, Amrafel king of Admah and Aryokh king of Elasar, four kings against the five.
Genesis 14:17
After his return from slaughtering K'dorla‘omer and the kings with him, the king of S'dom went out to meet him in the Shaveh Valley, also known as the King's Valley.
Genesis 14:19
so he blessed him with these words: "Blessed be Avram by El ‘Elyon, maker of heaven of earth.
Genesis 24:27
(iv) Then he said, "Blessed be Adonai , God of my master Avraham, who has not abandoned his faithful love for my master; because Adonai has guided me to the house of my master's kinsmen."
Genesis 28:22
and this stone, which I have set up as a standing-stone, will be God's house; and of everything you give me, I will faithfully return one-tenth to you."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But Samson's wife was given to his companion,.... By her father, and with her consent, both being affronted and provoked by Samson leaving her, who judged her not only to be injured, but hereby discharged from him, and free to marry another:

and whom he had used as his friend; though there were thirty of them that were his companions, yet there was one of them that was the principal of them, and was the most intimate with him, whom he used in the most friendly manner, and admitted to a more free conversation than the rest, the same that is called the friend of the bridegroom, John 3:29 while the others were called the children of the bridechamber, Matthew 9:15. It is not unlikely that this person had too much intimacy with Samson's wife before, and so had the secret of the riddle from her, and so very readily married her, as soon as Samson departed; and all this furnished out an occasion and opportunity, which Samson sought for, to be revenged on the Philistines, as in the following chapter.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

His companion - Perhaps one of those mentioned in Judges 14:11. The transaction denotes loose notions of the sanctity of marriage among the Philistines. It should be noted carefully that the practical lesson against ungodly marriages comes out most strongly in this case and that the providential purpose which out of this evil brought discomfiture to the Philistines, has nothing to do with the right or wrong of Samson’s conduct.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Judges 14:20. But Samson's wife was given to his companion — This was the same kind of person who is called the friend of the bridegroom, John 3:29. And it is very likely that she loved this person better than she loved her husband, and went to him as soon as Samson had gone to his father's house at Zorah. She might, however, have thought herself abandoned by him, and therefore took another; this appears to have been the persuasion of her father, Judges 15:2. But her betraying his secret and his interests to his enemies was a full proof he was not very dear to her; though, to persuade him to the contrary, she shed many crocodile tears; see Judges 14:16. He could not keep his own secret, and he was fool enough to suppose that another would be more faithful to him than he was to himself. Multitudes complain of the treachery of friends betraying their secrets, &c., never considering that they themselves have been their first betrayers, in confiding to others what they pretend to wish should be a secret to the whole world! If a man never let his secret out of his own bosom, it is impossible that he should ever be betrayed.


 
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